COMMENTARIES
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Al-Qaeda-ISIL Split: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Rajeshwari Krishnamurthy · 11 Feb, 2014 · #4303 · Commentary
In the first week of February 2014, Ayman al-Zawahiri, the commander-in-chief of the al-Qaeda made a statement disowning the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Al-Zawahiri, who took charge following former chief Osama bin Laden’s...
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Middle Kingdom
China in the Indian Ocean: Competing Priorities
DS Rajan · 10 Feb, 2014 · #4302 · Commentary
A very recent (January 2014) naval drill in China conducted by a three-ship Chinese navy squadron has received wide attention in the world media. The country’s largest amphibious Chinese landing ship – Changbaishan – along with t...
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The Strategist
India-Pakistan: Nuclear Risk Reduction Measures
Vijay Shankar · 10 Feb, 2014 · #4301 · Commentary · Column
The Problem
The problem with nuclear weapons is the complexity of convincing decision-makers that no conceivable advantage can be achieved from a nuclear exchange. As long as one side believes that there is some value to be had through the depl...
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Nuke Street
Nuclear Security Summit 2014 and the NTI Index
Sheel kant Sharma · 10 Feb, 2014 · #4300 · Commentary · Column
President Obama’s major initiative launched in Washington in 2010 will enter its next stage with the convening of the third Nuclear Security Summit in the Hague. The fourth one is set for Washington in 2016. This process of Nuclear Securit...
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Eagle Eye
US in Asia: A 'Non-Alignment' Strategy?
Chintamani Mahapatra · 10 Feb, 2014 · #4299 · Commentary · Column
As territorial and maritime disputes in Asia have sparked regional cold wars, the United States appears to have adopted a non-aligned strategy to navigate in troubled political space of the continent.
George Washington and Non-...
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Can India be Cunning?
PR Chari · 09 Feb, 2014 · #4298 · Commentary
That was the deliberately provocative title given by Kishore Mahbubani to his K. Subrahmanyam Memorial lecture on March 4. In a way the title was in line with K. Subrahmanyam’s personality which, as all those who knew him, woul...
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Taliban Tracker
Talks with the TTP: How Far will the State Go?
D Suba Chandran · 07 Feb, 2014 · #4297 · Commentary
The renewed attempts by the Pakistani State to initiate another round of dialogue with the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have gained momentum, and numerous measures are in place. The government has appointed a four-member committee to negotiat...
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J&K
Cross LoC Trade: Continuing Stalemate
Ayesha Khanyari · 07 Feb, 2014 · #4296 · Commentary
Early in January 2014, Islamabad halted the movement of trucks across the India-Pakistan border in Kashmir, after Indian authorities impounded a narcotics-laden truck entering India from the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). Additionally, Pakistan ...
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J&K
LoC Trade Under Fire
Shujaat Bukhari · 06 Feb, 2014 · #4295 · Commentary
Notwithstanding many inherent bottlenecks, the cross Line of Control (LoC) trade between two parts of erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir had emerged as a significant achievement of the peace process that started with a ceasefire along the LoC ...
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J&K
Cross-LoC Trade and Our Collective Failure
D Suba Chandran · 06 Feb, 2014 · #4294 · Commentary
The cross-LoC trade between two parts of J&K has been stopped once again. This time the reason is the arrest of a driver from the other side, who was found by the Indian authorities bringing Brown Sugar. Smuggling across the international bo...
